


Karma Calls Collect

by Wickedershelf21



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, I’m bad at tags, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 11:09:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18603316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wickedershelf21/pseuds/Wickedershelf21
Summary: Gabriel Howard. Former Marine Corps Sergeant. Now trying to survive the ruined Massachusetts Commonwealth after nuclear annihilation. He watched his wife get killed in front of him and his son taken from her dead arms. And now, he wants revenge.





	1. Awakening

"Critical failure in cryogenic array."

 

Those were the first words Gabriel heard as he woke up. The cryo pod hissed open and he fell to the ground, having to regain his footing. His first reaction was to run over to Nora's chamber, and open it. It was then that he remembered the man who'd killed her. Taken their child. Anger boiled inside him, but died down when he heard banging on another pod. He looked to the one that sat beside his, where his twin sister, Amy, was desperate to get out. He ran over and opened the pod, catching her as she fell out.

 

"You okay?" He asked.

 

"Y-Yeah. Just haven't quite gotten my footing," she replied, then saw Nora. "Gabe, I'm sorry..."

 

"Nothing you could've done," Gabriel replied, "let's just get out of here."

 

"Yeah. Good idea," Amy agreed.

 

They walked out the only door to the chamber, walking out into the hallway and to the door they came in through. Gabriel tinkered with the switch for a moment, and he soon realized the door was stuck. He turned to another door which was stuck open, and him and Amy went through. They walked past a window that viewed the reactor cores, and Gabriel found a security baton on a table, extending it when he heard Amy shriek. He looked back at the window, and saw a giant roach crawling across its surface. And it wasn't giant as in a few inches. It had to be at least a foot and a half long.

 

"Amy, calm down. I know you hate bugs, but we have to go through there," Gabriel said.

 

His sister looked terrified. He held her hand as they walked in. One of the roaches turned to them, and Amy screamed. The others turned to the source of the sound. One jumped at Gabriel, but he swung the baton and the roach's head collapsed on impact. It's legs flailed around, but it was certainly dead. The other two roaches began running at them, but Gabriel dispatched them quickly. Amy screamer again. When Gabriel turned to her, he saw that one of the reactors had electrocuted her. He helped her off the ground and led her out of the reactor. He picked up some relatively clean fabric from a table and used it to patch up the burn on her shoulder.

 

They wandered the halls of the vault, trying to find something, anything, to help them. Finally, they came to the Overseer's office. Gabriel saw several stimpaks on the desk, and he picked them up. He also saw a 10mm pistol with some ammo, which he also picked up, loading a magazine into the gun. He injected Amy with a stimpak, putting to use the knowledge he'd learned as a Marine Sergeant. Amy then went to hack the Overseer's computer, where she opened a security door and the emergency exit. They walked into what appeared to be an armory, where Gabriel saw a gun mounted to the wall inside a casing. _So that's the Cryolator_ , he thought, thinking back to the entry in the Overseer's computer.

 

"Amy, do you have a bobby pin?" Gabriel asked.

 

"Yeah, why?" Amy replied.

 

"Can you lockpick your way inside this case?" Gabriel pointed at the Cryolator case.

 

"Yeah, sure," Amy confirmed, walking over. It was less than a minute before they heard the click of the lock opening.

 

Gabriel walked over and picked the Cryolator up. He put the 10mm in a holster he found, and made a quick makeshift shoulder strap for the Cryolator, which he slung over his back. He looked at Amy.

 

"Ready to move on?" He asked. She nodded.

 

Gabriel took out the baton again, ready in case there were more of those roaches. He was thankful he did, because three roaches ran at him as soon as they left the office. He swatted them away, and they continued.

 

"Gabriel..." Amy said hesitantly. Gabriel stopped.

 

"Yeah, Amy?"

 

"Do you think anything's left?"

 

"I don't know, but... we can't stay in here," He said.

 

"I know. I'm just scared," Amy replied.

 

"Me too, but we'll make it through. We always have," Gabriel affirmed, hugging his sister. After a moment, he let go. "Let's keep moving," he suggested, and Amy nodded.

 

They walked into the entryway of the vault, and Gabriel dispatched yet another of the giant roaches. He walked over to a skeleton on the floor, seeing what he recognized as a Pip-Boy on the skeleton's wrist. He shook the bone free from the computer, and put it on his own arm, dusting the screen off.

 

"Gabe, how do we get out of here?" Amy asked.

 

"I'm not sure," Gabriel replied.

 

His eyes moved to the manual release switch on the vault door. He saw a socket that looked like it fit the plug on the Pip-Boy perfectly. He slotted the plug into the socket, and the glass casing over the manual release popped open. He pressed the switch, and the door opened with a deafening groan. When it was done, they were relieved to see that the elevator still remained on the floor they were on. They stood on it, and it began to move. Gabriel looked to the sky, wondering what had changed in the time he was in the vault. Though, of everything he expected, what he saw when he got to the top was more horrific than he ever could have imagined.


	2. The Minutemen

As the elevator topped out, Gabriel stopped dead. There was nothing left. It was a desolated landscape. Buildings stood half-destroyed, or caved in completely. Trees were dead and decaying, some fallen over. The sky was an eerie green, but he attributed this to an oncoming storm.

 

"Let's see if anything's left of Sanctuary," Amy suggested. Gabriel nodded.

 

The pair walked down to the ruined community, only to find that again, there was nothing left. Gabriel found his old house on the street, the one which was most intact. Miraculously, Codsworth, his Mr. Handy, was still intact and functioning properly.

 

"Master Gabriel! You're alive!" Codsworth cried.

 

"Yeah, I am," Gabriel replied.

 

"And Miss Amy! So good to see you again. I'm afraid the house is a bit... worse for wear," Codsworth said.

 

"Well, that was expected," Amy said.

 

"Oh, no..." Codsworth said. Gabriel looked over at the Old North Bridge to see three men with makeshift rifles walking over. He felt for the 10mm at his waist.

 

"Who are they?" Amy asked.

 

"Raiders," Codsworth replied.

 

"Hello there," one of the men said.

 

"Hello. What do you guys want?" Amy asked.

 

"Food, water, caps. Anything of value," another said.

 

"Maybe you..." the first said to Amy.

 

"Wha- no! Stay away!" Amy cried as one of them grabbed her.

 

"Well, you'll be payment enough," the first man said.

 

One of them went to search her for weapons, but dropped to the ground with a hole in his head the next second. Gabriel held the 10mm up into an aiming position, pointed at another of the three. Codsworth had his saw spinning, and the flamer tank on his arm was filled with fluid, ready to ignite. The men raised their rifles, but one dropped from the 10mm, and the other was incinerated by Codsworth's flamer.

 

"Thanks," Amy breathed.

 

"No problem, sis," Gabriel replied.

 

"Of course, Miss Amy," Codsworth said.

 

Gabriel began to search them, picking up one of their rifles and some .38 rounds. He grabbed some of the more intact leather armor, and strapped it on. He took one's shirt, jacket, jeans, and boots, and instructed Amy to do the same.

 

"We don't need to look like we're from a vault," Gabriel said.

 

"Fine..." Amy said reluctantly. She didn't like the idea of wearing a dead man's clothes, but they needed to survive.

 

After they'd gotten some more appropriate clothes, they spoke to Codsworth, who told them that they should head to Concord. Amy held the Cryolator, not one to use guns, while Gabriel carried his 10mm and the pipe rifle. As they passed the old Red Rocket truck stop, a German Shepherd ran up to them, curiosity in her eyes. Amy looked at Gabriel.

 

"Can we keep her?" She asked.

 

"Fine. Guess she'll be able to help us anyway," Gabriel replied.

 

"Hey girl, do you have a name?" Amy asked, searching the dog for a collar. "No. Hmm. How about... Lizzie?" The dog's tail wagged excitedly in response. "Lizzie it is, then."

 

"Amy, we need to keep moving," Gabriel said.

 

"Okay. Come, Lizzie," Amy said, and the dog followed.

 

They soon entered Concord, where they heard gunfire almost instantly. Amy reluctantly agreed to see where it was coming from, and they followed the road to what Gabriel recognized as the Museum of Freedom. A man in revolutionary-era clothing stood firing a makeshift laser weapon from a balcony, trying to hit raiders outside. Gabriel raised his rifle, and quickly dispatched two of them without wasting a shot. The other raiders turned to him, and he ran for cover. Amy dove out of the way as a grenade landed by her feet. Lizzie ran at the raiders, dodging bullets and soon grabbing hold of a raider's gun. Gabriel took aim at the disarmed raider, and shot him in the chest. He dropped to the ground, writhing around in pain before he stopped moving entirely. Two raiders were nearing Amy, and Gabriel couldn't take a shot that didn't risk hitting her. Amy realized this, and against her better judgement, raised the Cryolator, completely draining the cryo cell that was loaded and freezing the two men solid. The raiders outside were all dead now, and Gabriel, Amy, and Lizzie proceeded inside. Almost immediately they were met with shotgun fire, and Gabriel swiftly dispatched the raider before she could reload. He passed Amy another cryo cell, which she loaded into the Cryolator, and they moved through the museum.

 

"Hold up," Gabriel whispered as they approached a room. A can of pressurized oxygen was visible. "Three of 'em in that room. Gonna hit the tank."

 

Gabriel took a shot and, sure enough, the bullet ignited the compressed gas. A scream was heard, and everything went silent. They moved into the room, and Amy nearly gagged. The men had been completely obliterated, with body parts strewn around the room. Gabriel looked almost as if he didn't care, but then she remembered he'd been in combat, and seen men who were blown to shreds by land mines.

 

"Gabe, can we get out of here? Please?" She pleaded. He nodded.

 

After they were sure that there were no more, they moved into the room where the man had been shooting from.

 

"Who's there?" A man's voice said through the door.

 

"My name is Gabriel Howard! The raiders are all dead!" He called back. He heard the door unlock. The man from the balcony greeted them.

 

"Name's Preston Garvey. Commonwealth Minutemen. All that's left of them, now," the man said.

 

"Gabriel Howard, former U.S. Marine," Gabriel replied.

 

"Wait... as in, from before the war?" Preston was confused.

 

"Yeah. We were sealed in a vault, inside cryogenic pods," Gabriel explained.

 

"Huh... when you think you've seen it all..." Preston mumbled.

 

"Well, don't matter who you are. You're here, and you can help us," a man with hair that reminded Gabriel of a greaser said. He wore engineer's clothes, and had a pair of welding goggles around his neck.

 

"How would I do that?" Gabriel asked.

 

"You may have seen the vertibird that crashed on the roof. Well, one of the passengers left us a nice present. Inside, there's a suit of T-45 power armor. Old war equipment. All it needs is a new fusion core, and you can rip the minigun right off that bird. And there's one locked up in the basement," The man said. Amy was gone before anyone said a word to go get the core.

 

"And your name?" Gabriel asked. A woman stood.

 

"Name's Marcy Long. This is my husband, Jun. I don't trust you yet, but Preston does, so I'll hold off."

 

An elderly woman looked over to Gabriel.

 

"I'm Mama Murphy, kid."

 

"Name's Sturges," the engineer said.

 

"Got it!" Amy said, running inside with the core in her hand. Gabriel took it.

 

"See you soon," he said, and walked outside.

 

Gabriel walked up to the roof of the building, and instantly saw the armor. He jammed the core in, and turned the release. The armor hissed and opened with a whine, and Gabriel mounted up. The readout said that the left arm and right leg was damaged, but intact. He tore the minigun off of the vertibird, and proceeded to jump off the building. He landed on a raider, who collapsed into a heap of flesh and shattered bone. He revved the minigun up, firing and tearing several raiders unfortunate enough to be in his path. More raider started shooting, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off the armor. Amy and Preston watched from the balcony. Then he heard the scream.

 

"DEATHCLAW!"


	3. Return to Sanctuary

"DEATHCLAW!"

 

Gabriel looked to the source of the scream, where a lizard-like beast stood. He watched as it tore the man apart, and ran at ungodly speeds at the next raider. Gabriel let off a chain of rounds at the giant lizard, and it turned to him, running at full speed. He dove for cover, but the deathclaw tore through the car he was behind and swatted at him. The left arm of his power armor fell to pieces from the hit, and Gabriel let off another spray of 5mm shots. The deathclaw roared again, and tried to bite him. Its teeth sunk deep into the metal shell of the armor, and Amy screamed. Gabriel hit the release switch on the inside of the armor and jumped out. He pulled out his pipe rifle, firing several times at the deathclaw, but the rounds bounced off harmlessly. Then he had an idea. He ran to a nearby car, pulling out a damaged fusion core. The Geiger counter on his Pip-Boy began clicking, and he threw the core at the deathclaw. He fired a shot at the core, and the bullet hit dead center. The core began to overload and he dove behind cover. He heard the explosion and felt the heat, but the deathclaw was dead. Suddenly, he felt the barrel of a gun at the back of his head. It was the raider leader.

 

"Thanks for dealing with that thing for us. But unfortunately, your usefulness has expired," he said.

 

Right as he was about to pull the trigger, Lizzie bolted from the building and grabbed onto the man's arm. He screamed in pain, and Gabriel took the chance to unload a few rounds from his 10mm into the leader. The man dropped dead, and Gabriel salvaged his combat armor, which he put on quickly. The power armor was surprisingly intact, and he mounted it up quickly. He walked inside to find everyone sitting in the entrance. He dismounted the armor to conserve the core, and Amy noticed him. She ran and hugged her brother.

 

"Thank God you're okay!" She cried.

 

"Yeah, I'm okay. Armor's a bit worse for wear, but it'll make it," Gabriel said.

 

"You've done so much to help us," Preston said, "but can I ask one more favor?"

 

"Sure," Gabriel replied.

 

"Can you help us in getting to Sanctuary Hills?" Preston asked.

 

"Of course. It's dangerous out there," Gabriel agreed.

 

"Hold on! We're heading up to some place on the outskirts of the Commonwealth just because Mama Murphy said it was safe? She's nothing but a drug addict!" Marcy shouted.

 

"Well, hold on now, Marcy," Sturges said, "do you have a better idea? Anyone?" Nobody said anything. "Then it's settled. We head to Sanctuary. It can't be worse than this place."

 

Gabriel mounted the power armor again and they headed out. Gabriel immediately took charge.

 

"Amy, you have a pistol?" Gabriel asked.

 

"Yes," she replied.

 

"Take the rear with Sturges," he told her. She nodded.

 

"Preston, take point with me," Gabriel said.

 

"You got it," he replied.

 

"Keep your eyes open people!" Gabriel shouted as they began to walk. Preston stopped before the got out of Concord. "Something wrong?"

 

"No, just... thinking. About what happened to the Minutemen," Preston replied.

 

"Let's get to Sanctuary, then we'll talk about it," Gabriel offered. Preston nodded.

 

They began to walk again, and they finally came to the Old North Bridge. Preston stopped at the statue by the bridge.

 

"This is the Old North Bridge, where the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired," Preston said to no one in particular.

 

"Interesting, but uh... can we get inside the town?" Sturges asked.

 

"Yeah, sorry," Preston replied.

 

The party walked inside Sanctuary, and Gabriel walked over to a house with an old workshop. He dusted it off, and found blueprints for a variety of objects.

 

"Get some wood and cloth," Gabriel said. The group went to work.

 

Preston and Sturges took the blueprints for beds and began to put some together while Marcy and Jun began to work on a farm. Gabriel and Amy watched as they went to work, glad that they were working together. Preston walked over to him as Sturges moved the beds under shelter.

 

"Thanks for your help, Gabriel," Preston said

 

"You're welcome. If there's anything else you need-"

 

"Well, there is something..." Preston interrupted.

 

"What?" Amy asked.

 

"Gabriel, since General Becker died, we haven't had a proper General. Would you be willing to take on the role? Make it mean something again?" Preston asked.

 

"Of course," Gabriel said without hesitation.

 

"Thank you, General. In that case, a settlement by the name of Tenpines Bluff is in need of help," Preston said.

 

"We'll head out there immediately. Thank you, Preston," Gabriel replied.

 

"Wait, before you go. I've been meaning to ask... what led you to Concord?" Preston asked.

 

"I'm... I'm looking for my son. Shaun. Only an infant.  He was taken from the vault, and... and my wife was killed trying to protect him," Gabriel explained.

 

"I'm sorry, General. I can't help with that, but... someone in Diamond City may be able to," Preston offered.

 

"Thank you again, Preston. If you need anything else, just let me know," Gabriel said, and they walked into a house. Gabriel's house. "Let's get some sleep, Amy."

 

"Okay..." Amy replied tiredly. She fell over on a bed, falling asleep quickly. Gabriel followed suit, and sleep took over.


End file.
